PF Withdrawal Rule Change: This information has come in the light of a circular circulated by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). The circular was revised by the organization regarding grant of medical advance in case of medical emergency to the employees under the PF Scheme.
New Delhi. Employees who are registered for their Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) are eligible for Rs 1 lakh as medical advance. It can be withdrawn against their accumulated corpus for emergency medical treatment or hospitalization. Employees are also not required to provide an estimate about the cost of the said hospitalization or procedure before withdrawing funds. This information has come in the light of a circular circulated by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). The circular was revised by the organization regarding grant of medical advance in case of medical emergency to the employees under the PF Scheme.
The revised and streamlined circular outlines the scope within which the medical advance falls and even the treatment conditions under which it will be given. One of the parameters was to include additional COVID-19 related treatments.
As per the circular, this advance is applicable to employees covered under Central Service Medical Attendant (CS(MA)) Rules as well as employees covered under Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS).
Many times in life-threatening diseases, to save the life of the patient, it becomes necessary to immediately hospitalize him in an emergency and in such a situation it is not possible to estimate from the hospital. The need is felt to streamline the facility in advance for the treatment of such critical patient in the hospital when the family members of the staff are not able to manage the estimate from the hospital concerned in which such patient has been admitted in an emergency. Sometimes the patient staff may be in the ICU where the estimate is not known in advance. Therefore the following procedure may be adopted for grant of medical advance for emergency hospitalization due to serious life-threatening illness including Covid,” the circular stated.
What are the withdrawal conditions of EPFO?
The money that can be withdrawn is the basic salary of at least 6 months plus dearness allowance or the member’s share of the member’s contribution along with interest.
